LMS: Volume 14 Chapter 5

LMS: Volume 14 Chapter 5

Fight against Death Hand

This chapter is brought to you by AnmesicCat, BDark, Masadeer, Sunny, and Thunderhamster.

Weed was able to start a fire thanks to his sculpture.

The sight of a maiden’s tears!

It was a sculpture that was buried at the side of the road.

“Identify!”

Her father made axes everyday.
Her mother sewed everyday.
They would never play with my younger sibling and I.
There wasn’t anyone who would play with us.

Quest difficulty of Rank E!

Weed found the Dwarves. However, because the sculpture was made awhile ago, she aged and became a fully grown female Dwarf!

She was in the midst of sewing something.

“Excuse me. Would you mind if I played?”

Weed called out to her. He bought her some of the apple-flavored mead that Dwarven children loved and played with her for about 30 minutes.

“My childhood dreams became fulfilled like this. These are clothes that I made… I will give them to you.”

A handmade Blue Dwarven Blue Robe!

It was a magician’s robe with a level requirement of 130, but even with the low level requirement, it was a very important magician’s robe.

Magicians are not significantly conscious of their defence. Because they have the most powerful damage, they focus on mana regeneration and attack power.

In fact, no matter how bad or how good a robe is, they did not give any extra health or defense. However, this Dwarven handmade Blue Robe was something every Magician wanted. The robe had options to give fast casting for spells and extra mana, which could be sold for 7,000 gold.

Even though a Magician’s staff provides the most magical attack power boosts, Magician robes were rare and therefore sold for more.

This was why the compensation for this statue quest was absurd.

“Sculptures can be compared as the flowers of true art!”

Weed lavishly praised the sculpture.

“Welcome, Art Hand!”

“Hello Esteemed Guards. Would it be okay if I entered the house for a bit?”

“If it’s you, you’re welcome here anytime!”

He even visited the Dwarven Guards’ house.

Weed had an affinity of using flattery which did not cost any money and this way, he was able to get familiar with the Guards. There was a sculpture inside the guardhouse.

There was a big difference between Humans and the taciturn Dwarves.

Because they loved sculptures and other works of art, such as paintings, there were always 1~2 sculptures in every house. There was a small number of sculptures that had no meaning and were made for display, but there were also plenty of sculptures that were requested to be made or symbolises something.

“This seems like an amazing sculpture.”
“Ah. It’s something my ancestors kept a hold of.”
“May I take a look at it close up?”

“If a sculptor as skilled as yourself would look at it, it would bring me great honor”

“Thank you. Identify!”

– There aren’t be a lot of Dwarves who knows the truth about the foul and evil being living in Kuruso.

‘Evil being…’

For some reason the quest seemed like it would get fairly troublesome.

– That evil being shapeshifts and roams around while tempting innocent Dwarves. Since the evil being changes his identity regularly, he cannot be found easily. However, the evil being usually has a form that resembles a sneering Dwarf.

If a capable Dwarf makes a good item, this evil being will approach them. It will always try to pass itself as an unskilled Dwarf, and will produce a better item after inspecting and mastering their skills.

A despicable act to the Dwarves who work hard to raise their skills!

Weed thought this was fairly extreme.

‘I wouldn’t be able to forgive him either’

If, while one is making 1 Gold, their neighbor is making 2 or 3 Gold, it would cause irreparable mental trauma!

– You must take revenge on that evil being.

He had to make sure the evil being would never step foot on Dwarven soil again.

However, because the Dwarves defended the weak and powerless, he couldn’t just punish the evil being. If he did that, the pride of the race would not be restored.

It was better for him to identify the evil being and then openly challenge him to a competition of skill and defeat him.

Fortunately, the evil being was not proficient in every field, so there was a definite chance of success.

This time, the difficulty of the quest was rank C!

“I think it will yield a fairly good reward this time.”

Rather than fighting against the evil being and beating it, he had to defeat it in a feat of skill.

Weed immediately identified a Dwarf that was likely to be the evil being.

Whenever a Dwarf player produced an item, there was another Dwarf that was making a superior item next to him.

His name was Death Hand!

“Keulkeulkeul.”

Unlike a Stouthearted Dwarf, he would make noise and then create something.

He was a Dwarf that was famous in Kuruso for requesting random things.

‘If he won’t drink any ale, there won’t be any doubt.’

After following him around for a day, Weed was certain.

A Dwarf that wouldn’t drink any ale was abnormal!

He thought there was no doubt because, even though he stood next to him and drank as if inviting it to drink with him, he showed no interest.

“Geez, you couldn’t even cut a watermelon with this kind of sword.”

“Keueuk…”

There was another frustrated Dwarf in front of Death Hand.

He had spent his whole savings to obtain the highest grade of bone. A sword made from the bone of a monster!

After making a fairly decent sword from the femur of an Ogre, he let out a shout of joy.

“Alright! I finally completed the Ogre Sword!”

Before he could even share this happiness with the other Dwarves, Death Hand walked up.

“Heh, It seems pretty complicated. How did you make a sword out of the bone?”

He tried making a sword out of some Ogre bones he had, and after a few failures, he finally succeeded.

‘No way.’

The Dwarf that made the sword out of Ogre bones became focused entirely on Death Hand.

‘It can’t be. It won’t be like that this time.’

Iron is the easiest material to make a sword out of.

It was easy to change its shape after melting and beating it, and it is easy to complete the sword due to the strength of the materials. The completed sword’s durability will also increase after grinding it on a whetstone.

The inferior bone sword would not allow for mistakes during the entire process, and the material itself was especially sensitive.

Even if one was a Dwarf with high level Blacksmithing skill, they could not make the sword if they did not know how to work with the material. Death Hand had produced a few failures, but suddenly he pulled out an Ogre bone.

“That was in the treasury, it’s valuable…”

And then, after working on it for a short while, incredibly he made an Ogre Bone Sword!

It was a better sword, it also had an interesting shape.

Death Hand however, threw his sword on the ground and it smashed like pottery.

“Damn it, this is abomination! This sword won’t cut a watermelon. It won’t cut an apple. And it even won’t cut a banana!”

“Keuheuheuheug!”

Death Hand’s latest victim of the day was crying bitterly.

* * *

Without warning, Weed proudly walked up to Death Hand.

“Ahem, what should we make? Producing items must be hard for you given your lack of talent.”

His clothes gave off the smell of a novice Sculptor. With a beginner carving knife and skills that could take him over 10 hours to sculpt a squirrel.

Sculpting the tail took 4 hours, the head took 2 hours, even though he crudely made the torso, it still took a long time, and there was still the legs left to be carved.

It was a squirrel, but, without knowing where the cute feet went, it resembled a badger or weasel.

The size was about that of a wild boar and the quality would not be worth mentioning.

– As a result of a failed sculpture fame has decreased by 23.

“Keulkeulkeul.”

When it was completed, Death Hand laughed.

Anyone who saw could see the sculpture of the squirrel was a failure!

Weed once again grabbed his beginner’s carving knife with newfound motivation.

“Failure is okay because it is needed to in order to improve!”

This time, he planned on sculpting a cow.
A gentle, meek, and hard working cow.

Although he put forth more effort to sculpt the cow than the squirrel, it still turned out to be so ugly, it wasn’t worth a look.

The thickness and the length of the legs were of four different sizes and the tail was 1 cm wide!

Fortunately, the head turned out well even if the rest of the body was horrific.

There was no recognizable proof that it was a cow.

Woodangtang!

Even though it was a complete sculpture, it was destroyed because its meager legs could not support its weight.

It was a gruesome sight.

His sculpting skill was slowly decreasing!

– As a result of a failed sculpture fame has decreased by 39.

“Keul-keul-keul-keul! keu-hi-hi-hi!”

Death Hand was laughing even harder than before.

He liked to see the misery of others and Weed was his favorite victim right now.

“There is probably no need for me to bother if it’s this kind of sculptor, but…”

Regardless of what Death Hand thought, he did not want to stop watching Weed.

“I should destroy him so that he won’t make any more sculptures!”

* * *

A sculpting battle between Death Hand and Weed!

In the small town of Kuruso word travelled quickly.

Up until now, Death Hand had made a fool out of every Dwarf with capability. Nevertheless, this was a sculpting battle therefore the outcome was hard to predict.

Inside the tavern while drinking their beers, Weed was the topic of all Dwarves.

“Logically speaking, who do you think will win?”

“Death Hand will.”

“No, I believe Art Hand will get the job done, defeat and crush that arrogant flat nosed Death Hand!”

The Dwarven Warriors who were with Weed in the Shaspin caves were cheering for him.

“Do you think that skills are that easy to obtain? You can put up a good fight in an unfavorable battle, but the skill of your hands won’t lie.”

“But Art Hand might be able to do so.”
“Wanna bet?”

“Alright! The loser will buy the winner alcohol for a hundred days, including today.”

“As you wish. Two casks of ale here!”

You could occasionally see people taking bets while everyone was merrymaking.

* * *

Death Hand created a sculpture of the Ghost Knight of Balgest.

A vicious monster Knight who goes to battle atop a mountainous horse!

When a Knight of Balgest appears, even monsters trembled in terror. It was a high-ranking monster that held an absolute power.

“Keulkeulkeul.”

Death Hand was completing the Knight of Balgest at an extremely fast pace. Since it was massive, he gathered plenty of clay to make it.

“Ah, Sculpting is really hard.”

Death Hand was exaggerating.

Weed made noises to show that he was suffering.

Although at first, Weed made the thickness and length different while he was sculpting the legs. However, because he was not contented with it, he made a few repairs. As he was sculpting the legs, he also sculpted the torso and changed it so that the forepaw was raised.

Death Hand’s mouth was twitching viciously.

“I wasn’t even trying to make this… My luck sure is good.”

He left out the delicate muscles a horse had, and it became a splendid Ghost Knight of Balgest.

From the chainmail and the iron mace to the torn clothes worn over it all, the Knight of Balgest was perfectly recreated.

“Phew. To think that I could only make something like this… Is there a sculptor as incompetent as I am? A common sculptor like myself should die. Death is only proper.”

Kkeukkkeuk Death Hand cried sadly.

Masterpiece!

Sculpture of the Elite Knights of Balgest.
The Ghost Knight of the ruined Balgest Kingdom.
It is a sculpture that shows the roaring of war.
It is made of inferior clay, and it was covered with black dye.

Artistic Value: 416

Special Option:
Movement speed in battle increases by 7%
The skills of Knights increases by 1 level.

“My god, I should never make another sculpture again. How can I have the right to make another sculpture with these lowly skills?”

Death Hand was making a suffering sounds in front of him.

Dwarves who came because they were curious clicked their tongues.

“It looks like the appearance of another poor victim.”

“Speaking of which, this time around it was really cruel; it’s hopeless when he even included that kind of horse.”

Death Hand’s marvelous work that took one’s confidence and ground it into the floor!

“However, since his opponent this time is Art Hand, wouldn’t something be different?”

“He won’t back down without a fight. For sure.”

The Dwarves could not accurately gauge Weed’s skill. However, since he was able to receive a request of B-rank difficulty, no matter how good his luck was, they expected him to at least have substantial basic skills.

However, Weed created another beginner-like sculpture.

“…”

Death Hand and the Dwarves watched his every movement.

However, after lifting his sculpting knife and thinking for a while, Weed put his hand back down.

The outburst of sighs in that moment.

“Hey!”
“Are you really forfeiting?”

The Dwarves were getting impatient.

“I won’t need something like a sculpting knife.”

Weed nonchalantly said this while raising his bare hands.

He did not have a sculpting knife, and worst of all, he did not have materials to sculpt with. He started moving his hands over the air like a crazy person.

And then, a faint light appeared like magic!

Weed quietly repeated the same action.

“This is Moonlight Sculpting, right?”

It was easy and comforting to carve a moonlight sculpture. Childishly forming the light of the sculpture, the artistic value rose.

However, a real Moonlight Sculptor could use the light itself to make a sculpture.

Weed released tendrils of light from his ten fingers, as if they were a skein of thread.

“Whoa! What’s that?”
“That looks like magic… A Dwarf is using magic?”

The Dwarves gathered around.

As if he were a singer performing on stage, Weed, who was using light to sculpt, was the main character.

Even Death Hand, himself, looked at Weed with astonishment.

* * *

The thin tendrils of light emitted a quiet beauty.

It was hard to produce any color with the light, but it contained a profound hue.

This was the first time he was properly exhibiting the art of Moonlight Sculpting.

Aside from accidentally gaining the credentials to use it, It was impossible to actually learn it from leisurely sculpting.

It was a sculpture that utilized completely different techniques from stone or wood carving.

It is a sculpture of light.

Every time he moved his fingers a different color appeared, and it consumed a bit of his mana.

The delicate tuning of Moonlight Sculpting.

Even the color of the light was versatile.

If you make each part of the sculpture, a different color then it changes the overall outcome of the finished product.

The sculpture was made of thousands of different colors easily surpassed the scale of the pyramid!

Although it would become an inconceivably spectacular work, it would become crude without refinement.

Over a couple of days, he had to use his highest level of concentration which was not easy thing to do.

The superior skills of a Sculptor, a Moonlight Sculptor!

When the skill is used continuously, it takes up a lot of mana to maintain it, and even more to add or change it to a different color.

‘My skills are not up to par yet.’

Weed was determined to add different colors.

First he added a bright red color.

‘The color red. Very bold and glamorous.’

The sculpture is now limited to colors that matches with red.

Then from Weed’s fingers, flowed the color of yellow.

Similar to the color red, it was a very challenging color.

The greens, oranges, blues, blacks and purples colors were all changing.

Although there were many different colors, they blended in well.

The clear and spectacular colors that drew one’s attention as though they have been possessed!

The color choices came from Weed’s childhood memories.

‘Crap! Even though I’m looking right at it, I can’t determine the right color.’

It was an effect of being able to use only 8 colors of pastel crayons ever since elementary school, due to his poverty!

It was hard to differentiate one color because of the intangible sense of color.

The colors were always changing.

There weren’t forty-eight colors, nor were there sixty colors.

The color, hue, and contrast led to the gentle change of tens of thousands of colors.

Weed decided to select the color based on his intuition.

‘It won’t be the prettiest color, but the color I’ve chosen.’

There were too many colors, and they were changing quickly.

Whatever color he would picked, he would probably regret it later on, but he would chose the color that touched his heart.

‘It’s done. This is it.’

Finally, Weed chose a mixture of a bright silver color and a noble light blue color.

It was a light that radiated a brilliant silver blue hue.

It was a silver blue that Weed, who only used 8 colors of pastel crayon, could not explain nor comprehend!

It was a much more noble and beautiful color than the light could express.

Paas!

The light that was flowing from Weed and piling up until now faded altogether.

The hundreds of the colored lights that were gathered into a large ball dissipated in a moment, and a silver-blue light glowed from Weed’s hand.

It was the start of Moonlight Sculpting.

‘What should I make?’

Weed’s concern faded as soon as he saw the light.

Sculpting was a profession that worked with materials. Depending on the material, some works were restricted.

Since he decided to use Moonlight Sculpting from the beginning, he already had a few ideas in mind.

‘Seoyoon. Although I overused her, if I sculpt her using Moonlight Sculpting, she’d be as beautiful as a Goddess, right?

However, in truth, it was extremely hard to create a person using light. It was hard to capture the beauty, and it was exceptionally difficult to express skin.

He thought it would be a worthy challenge someday, but it was impossible for now.

‘Bingryong or the Wyverns would be fine.’

It would be a refreshing experience to make a sculpture he already made out of light.

However, after seeing the deep light that was spilling out of his hand, Weed changed his mind.

‘Let’s make a sculpture that matches this light.’

Rather than choosing a sculpture that he had already done in the past, he decided to go with a motif that tugged on his heartstrings.

Weed’s hands started to thread the air.

As the lights got tangled and wavered, he preserved the pattern.

Rather than stone or wood, light was being used to create a sculpture!

It was a work that needed meticulousness and details.

His 10 fingers moved delicately as if he was playing an instrument.

The thickness of the light changed depending on the power of the intensity and time. Because the thread could change in quality, if one couldn’t focus their concentration and feelings to the utmost, then they couldn’t even attempt to sculpt.

While working on the light sculpture, Weed had a charismatic aura around him.

Gathering and caressing the light; it was the pinnacle of an Artist who worked with light!

The light sculpture was so captivating that even if lightning were to strike beside it one would not notice.

Finally, a pair of wings that were made from the silver-blue threads of light were completed!

– Please set a name for the statue.

Weed, who was looking at the statue as it emerged, said.

“Wings of Light.”

If the onlookers knew the name that was given to the sculpture at that moment, they would have felt a sadness ripping at their hearts.

– Wings of Light is recorded in the history of light sculptures, any sculptor who sees this will understand sculpting better and create better works.

– As a result of creating a Moonlight Grand Masterpiece Sculpture, all stats will rise by 4 points.

Overwhelming astounding work!

Although he had created a few sculptures using Moonlight Sculpting, this time one could say that it was a true Moonlight Sculpture.

The sculpture had the highest artistic value out of all of Weed’s sculptures thanks to the historical value.

The pair of elegant Wings of Light floated in the air while flapping.

Weed lamented while hitting the ground.

“This is a failure, a huge failure.”
“…”

The wings would pierce the mind of any Dwarf who looked at them.

They wanted to insult and criticize Weed.

‘Are you insane, crazy Dwarf!’

‘Calling a work such as this a failure, are you making fun of us!’

A legend was made. In fact none of the Dwarves present, had ever seen a light sculpture. Such a sculpture was made, yet the creator was despairing over it!

“A Sculptor like me who does not have talent deserves to die. Heug-heug. How could I create a lousy sculpture.”

“?.”
“I blame my half-hearted effort. If only I spent more effort making it.”

However, Weed’s Wings of Light sculpture was harder to work on than any sculpture he had made thus far.

He needed maintain a constant sense of his fingers to match the intensity of the colors of light and control them uniformly. He could not hesitate when making it. Any bold moves have to be exact.

Everyone gathered knew where the roughly 4 hours spent on sculpting the Wings of Light.

Cooled sweat soaked Weed’s forehead and back.

“Death Hand.”
“Huh? Di-Did you call me?”

Death Hand was embarrassed as he looked blankly at the Wings of Light. He was stunned.

Weed had put together an apology.

“I’m Sorry.”
“What, What? Why are you apologising to me…”

“You were right. An incompetent sculptor like myself is not worthy of creating art.”

“…”
“Using my crude skills to make such a sorry failure, I don’t think I can bear to live with the shame.”

“…”

There were slight flaws in the Wings of Light.

When making a pair of wings, both sides should be identical but if you looked closely you could see that the wings were of different sizes.

There were microscopic defects but it was unnoticeable under the naked eye. But if people were to look at the sculpture closely, they would notice the small microscopic defects.

Given that perfect sculptures are rare and this was the first sculpture of light, this sculpture was closer to perfection rather than a failure. It actually came out to be a one of Weed’s Grand Masterpieces.

“It’s shameful and embarrassing. If there was a mousehole, I would want to crawl into it. An incompetent sculptor, like myself, can only die.”

Weed was mimicking Death Hand’s words and flinging them back at him.

“My sculpture seems to be soiled. Sculptors like me are useless in the future, Death hand, what are your thoughts?”

“Me, I…”

Kuruso’s notorious Death Hand was embarrassed and too lost for words.

The Dwarves who were captivated by the “Wings of Light” regained their senses.

Weed and Death Hand’s sculpture battle!

Weed was victorious.

‘Art Hand had won.’
‘Death Hand was finally defeated!’

* * *

Weed and the other dwarves listened to Death Hand’s words of surrender.

“Previously I was haughtily flaunting my skill, I’m sorry.”

– You have eradicated the Evil Being of Kuruso.

With this the quest from the Guard’s statue was completed!

“You are one talented Dwarf. Once I have polished my sculpting skills, I will be back to challenge you again.”

Death Hand pulled out a 15 cm tall sculpture from his bosom and gave it to Weed.

– You have obtained a sculpture from Death Hand.

“I hope that you will treasure this statue until the day we meet again.”

Forlornly, Death Hand turned around and left.

“What, he left after giving me only 1 sculpture?”
“So this is how things come to an end…”

The Dwarves watched with fallen shoulders.

The Knight of Balgest was excellently portrayed in the sculpture, it was a great work. In addition, the sight of the making of the Wings of Light would become an unforgettable memory.

However, with Death Hand’s reputation and capability, this was nowhere near the end!